Women and men from around the world marched on January 21 to support women’s rights and protest policies placed by President Donald Trump and his administration.

Soon after discovering that Trump had won the presidency, Teresa Shook, a retired attorney from Hawaii, felt discouraged and sad. She was shocked that Trump had won the presidency. She didn’t want to sit around and do nothing; she wanted to make a difference. She created a Facebook event page asking people to attend a march in Washington. She didn’t expect many reservations, but by the time she woke up, she had about 10,000 people interested in the march.

According to WomensMarch.com, it was estimated that 4,876,700 people participated in the Women’s March in Washington and the other 672 marches that took place around the world. If people from all over the world are protesting the same causes, don’t you think that means something?

It’s disappointing that women still have to fight to protect their rights and freedom from the men in our government. They’ve been fighting for equal rights since 1848, and still have a long way to go unfortunately.

Women and men were joined by children and celebrities to protest the lack of equality marginalized groups face every day. People were marching for healthcare reform, immigration reform, racial justice, LGBTQ rights and protection of the natural environment.

The Women’s March in Washington and the sister marches around the world proved to everyone that feminism benefits everyone. Anyone and everyone can be a feminist, so why do people have a hard time adjusting to the idea?

Feminism doesn’t mean that women want to earn 20 percent more than men for the same work, or that women want three months in jail for raping an unconscious male. Women just don’t want to be treated differently from the male population. Most importantly, women want respect.

The marches have shown that it’s no longer “acceptable” to fight for one cause. There are many issues that need to be addressed.

Women aren’t the only group of people facing adversity with the new administration.

The decisions of Trump and his administration will affect members of the LGBTQ community, people of color, Native Americans, people with disabilities, immigrants and Muslims.

Being treated fairly is a basic human right; it has nothing to do with political parties. We’re all humans, we all drink the same water and we all breathe the same air.

It’s time for us to protect our rights and work hard to retrieve some that have been neglected for so long. Although many Americans and non-Americans are fearing what’s to come for the next four years, there might be some good accompanying the evil. These challenges have fueled our ambition to make things right for all people.

We can’t look the other way and act like nothing’s happening. We have to take charge of our country and make it a place we can be proud of. Now is the time to lead the country into a new age. Let’s not regress our progress; but instead keep moving forward.